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Associations between food insecurity and psychotropic medication use among women living with HIV in the United States
This 2020 study evaluated whether food insecurity is associated with psychotropic medication use independent of depression and anxiety symptoms among HIV-positive women in the U.S. Few studies had previously examined the social-structural factors that may play a role in the use of psychotropic medication, which has increased in America. Using data from the national study Women’s Interagency HIV Study (WIHS), Whittle et al. looked into interactions between food insecurity and the use of any psychotropic medications (including antidepressants, sedatives and antipsychotics). Two-thirds of the 905 women included were African American. Results showed a correlation between worse food insecurity with increased symptoms of depression and anxiety in a dose-response manner. In models unadjusted for depression and anxiety, marginal and low food security were linked with higher odds of using any psychotropic medication. There was a 1.93 times greater chance of using any psychotropics after adjusting for depression and anxiety symptoms. Very low food security was not found to be significantly related to psychotropic use but was significantly associated with less risk of antidepressant use. These complex results may signify the presence of barriers to mental health service access that people with very low food security face, and the higher psychotropic prescription rate for distress (likely to have arisen from social and structural factors) in those experiencing marginal food security with services access. [NPID: food insecurity, mental health, psychotropic medication, HIV, women, antidepressants, sedatives, anxiety, depression]
Year: 2020
